


Did You Know

by bexacaust



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mentor/Protégé
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 04:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9640118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexacaust/pseuds/bexacaust
Summary: Mary, did you knowThat your baby boyWill give sight to a blind man?





	

Xaaron looked around the hab suite he had relegated himself to- far enough away from the more active halls to have some peace and quiet; but close enough to answer any calls commed to him.

Even vagabond questers need legal counsel, after all.

And seeing lines of faces he remembered, seeing lines of names he knew- it helped. In this strange post-war world they lived in, it helped.

Peering in on the labs every so often to give a stern look to Brainstorm helped.

But there was a name in particular that intrigued him- one he had not heard since a long ago day on Kimia. When Prowl had taken fatal interest, had spirited away part of Xaaron’s pride.

Xaaron had given his blessing… but now, he wondered.

Would he have done so, knowing what lay in store for the scientist so eager for discovery and advancement?

Knowing that the desire to help, to save, to balance the karmic scales… would be so cruel?

Now, with hab number in hand, he left to wander down halls and be alone with his thoughts. His pedesteps sounded so very hollow; the tread of a ghost, of a forgotten spirit in those so-haunted halls.

The scuffs and bends in the wall. The stains on the floors that may never come out. Holes left behind by stray bullets- all the outcome of work done on Kimia eons before.

He stopped before a quietly closed door, and found his hands shaking. Was it nervousness-  the worry of not recognizing the scientist in the soldier?

Was it fear- the knowledge that the one he new as a research supervisor had become someone more… cold? Cruel? Calculating? _Dangerous?_

Was it excitement- a guardian and sparkling reunited, swearing to never part again? With voiceless apology and forgiveness?

He typed in the code on the keypad.

The hab was quiet. Xaaron looked around, peering into the darkness until he caught the soft glow of blue and a quiet whirr.

There, sprawled on the couch, lay Perceptor. Deep in recharge, optics shuttered but reticule glimmering like a will-o-the-wisp he seemed oblivious to the world. His systems idled softly- but the rumble still loud and strong to Xaaron’s audials. Xaaron, who remembered the Wrecker as he once was.

A microscope, quiet and content and always working this shy of too late in the labs.

He stirred with a hum, blinking awake with a soft mutter of “Lights half, please.”

Still polite, even to command programs.

The lights rose, and Xaaron felt his intake go dry as Perceptor peered at him with a slow shutter blink.

“Xaaron…?”

“Yes, Perceptor its… it’s me.”

The microscope scrambled to his feet, wobbly and still half asleep and already stammering apologies, “F-Forgive me sir, I hadn’t realize you see- I-Well, its an old habit ha-ha, once I’m out I’m out I’m-”

Xaaron couldn’t help the smile on his face as he walked forward through Perceptor’s rambled apologies, putting a hand upon the Wrecker’s shoulder.

“No, no, you’re alright Percy. I simply wanted to… to see you again. It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has, hasn’t it.”

“Sit, Perceptor. When was the last time you put anything in your tanks?”

A guilty expression bloomed on faceplates that could never lie to Xaaron.

“I figured. Good thing I thought ahead.”, laughed Xaaron, pulling two cubes from his subspace and gesturing for Perceptor to sit. 

With a grunt, the Wrecker dropped back onto the couch, knees creaking and flexing sore servos. He gratefully accepted the cube from Xaaron as the mech took a seat next to Perceptor, and they sat in the quiet for a few moments.

“So…”, said Perceptor quietly, “Are you alright? After the attack, that is.”

“I am doing better than I expected.”, answered Xaaron quietly, “I am more worried about you. You withdrew quite a bit. Why is that?”

“…Because I was never supposed to see him again.”

Xaaron looked confused, “…Again? When had you seen him before?”

“… When we rescued Fort Max and Aequitas. From Garrus 9.”

Xaaron felt his internals go ice cold at Perceptor’s quiet sentence, the shrug the microscope gave before taking a sip from his cube. The haunted look in his optics.

“You were…”

“Yes. By Prowl’s request.”

Xaaron swore the floor went out from under them. Flickers of conversation between he and Prowl. Sly questions, honest answers. Answers incriminating the best of the mech before him, the best of Brainstorm’s hotheaded well-meaning exuberance, all of it.

“Perceptor, I… I didn’t know.”

“I know.”, said Perceptor with another shrug.

Xaaron set his cube on the table before laying a hand on Perceptor’s shoulder.

“Tell me. Tell me everything.”, he said quietly, “What happened- what was done to you?”

“You will not be pleased. You won’t be proud.”, said Perceptor, his voice low and smooth and nervous. His grip tightened on the cube and he couldn’t meet Xaaron’s optics.

“Perceptor, look at me young mech.”, said Xaaron with gentle sternness. He waited until hesitant optics met his own.

“I could never be anything but proud of you, Perceptor. Tell me everything.”

“…Starting from when I repaired Kup… or from when I died?”

Xaaron’s grip on Perceptor’s shoulder tightened.

“Everything. Every last thing you were put through.”

_‘Let me apologize for sentencing you; for punishing you for trying to do the right thing.’_

Perceptor nodded, and began to speak.

* * *


End file.
